E-Swarm Report: Hard-fought wins, losses for Sac State in SSBU, NECC Valorant

Final League of Legends game March 6, ECAC Valorant team gets bye

Each week, The State Hornet will recap all the action from Sac State’s esports games. The Sac State League of Legends team is poised to go into the playoffs undefeated March 6.

Colby Case
March 6, 2021

League of Legends coming next week

The Sac State League of Legends team’s (6-0) next game will take place March 6 at 5 p.m. against Portland State University’s Vikings (4-2). It will be streamed by the esports club and will be the last game before playoffs.

Playoffs consist of the top eight teams, but with two teams dropping, only six will play in the playoffs. The playoffs will consist of those six teams playing in a three round, best of three single elimination with the winning team advancing to the Riot Games-hosted College Championship, which consist of victors from multiple different conferences.

RELATED: In two minutes: A crash course in League of Legends

ECAC Valorant team gets a bye, NECC teams fight tooth and nail

Eastern College Athletic Conference

The Sac State Hornet team got a bye due to a withdrawal from Mansfield University on March 2, keeping the team’s 5-0 streak into round 6 next week. The Hornets’ next match will be March 9, though pairings have not yet been posted.

New England Collegiate Conference

The Sac State Valorant Green team took home a 2-1 win against California State University, Dominguez Hills 1 on March 3. 

The first game was on the map Ascent. Although initially very close, the Green team eventually widened the gap after the thirteenth round, taking seven consecutive rounds, winning game one 13-7.

The second game went to the map Bind, where the Green team took a close loss 13-11 due to some clever site rotations from Dominguez Hills 1, catching the Green team off guard. The final game, on the map Split, turned into a slaughter with Dominguez Hills 1 winning a couple rounds early then being devastated by multiple rounds of flanking assaults from the Green team, taking the game 13-4 and set 2-1.

“I don’t think we have the godliest aim or the most rigorous practice schedule, but when we do practice, we make sure that we have a goal in mind and we always have something to improve on,” said Nikki Aaron “Quizz” Castillo over Discord. “[Dominguez Hills] took the championship last season over us, this was kind of our revenge match and we’re never letting something like that happen against them again.”

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An extensive push and quick shooting by Dominguez Hills 1 player “baeV” nearly sees the Toros to victory as they clear B site on the map Bind. Sac State Gold player Jose “SAC RuKs” Santiago recovers quickly, dispatching “iQ baeV” and then the following CSUDH 2 player “ONEMADBADDOG” for the victory. Video via NECC stream.

The Gold team ended up being the inverse of Green’s performance, losing its match 2-1 against Dominguez Hills 2. 

The first game, on the map Ascent, ended in a disheartening defeat 13-2 where it seemed Dominguez Hills 2 kept the Gold team on its back foot the entire time, showing up where they were not expected.

The Sac State Gold team turned the next game around on the map Split. They communicated clearly and won the crucial pistol rounds, setting them up for the rest of the first half to which they compounded into a 13-9 victory for the second set. The final game, on the map Haven, however ended in a 13-8 loss due to some thorough site defense and chases from Dominguez Hills 2.

The Sac State Valorant Green and Gold teams’ next games are on March 10. Green team will be playing against Florida Atlantic University at 5 p.m. and Gold team against Southern New Hampshire University at 5:30 p.m. Neither game is expected to be streamed by NECC, though they may be individually from team members.

Forfeit win in Rocket League

Mansfield University forfeited this week against the Sac State Rocket League team. This will give the Hornets their third win of the season, bringing their record to 3-2. Their next game will be on March 10. Pairings have not yet been posted.

Sweeping win and close loss for the Sacramento State Super Smash Bros. teams

The Sac State Smash Ultimate Green team (3-2) lost against New York Technical Institute’s Cybears (4-1) on March 1. 

Winning the first set by relying on Jahque “JJ$TATIC” Wilson’s Snake to take the final stock, Green team chose to stay as their characters. However, the Cybears swapped out, opting for Sephiroth that zoned well against Wilson’s Snake, Dominik “sora” Ortiz’s R.O.B. and Aaron “ArgonGames” George’s Captain Falcon. 

Timely use of Sephiroth’s counter, dashes and exceptionally long sword chipped away at Sac State, forcing the Green team to play more cautiously. Though Sephiroth was defeated, the damage to Green team’s stocks lost them the set, 2-1.

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SSBU Green member Aaron “ArgonGames” George, as Captain Falcon, plays against the Cybears’ Sephiroth player “Percival.” Sephiroth’s long melee reach, fast movement and high-damage ranged attacks made the character a prickly opponent as he took George’s last stock. Video courtesy of Aaron George.

The Sac State Gold team (2-3) played against Moravian College’s Cyberhounds (1-4) sweeping them, 2-0. Set one started with Arturo “Zoro” Rodriguez taking down the first two Cyberhounds as Sephiroth, only to finally be stopped by the remaining Fox, who had one stock left. Fox was cleaned up by Hector “PandaToast” Navarro as Sheik.

The second set was started by Rodriguez again as Sephiroth but was challenged early by the Cyberhounds’ Wolf, who took all but one of Rodriguez’s stocks. Rodriguez repaid the favor going into the next round against an enemy Ness, taking two of their stocks before going down. The remaining Ness stock and all of the following Cyberhounds’ Incineroar stocks were taken by Nathan “Always” Ng as Marth.